Love's Project
by MaronTodai
Summary: I'm Rose Weasley and I just started my 6th year at Hogwarts. Easy, I thought at first...but I was terribly wrong. Between classes and the usual stress, I'm now also forced to deal with a gnome and Malfoy...not to forget the problems which only just occure because of the latter...Hurray... I already see my last two years of school becoming a disaster! Rated T because I'm crazy!
1. Returns and Changes

**Author's note: **Hehehehe...I can't believe I really do it. Ehm...oh, you're already reading o.o**  
**

Yep, here's my new story. A Rose x Scorpius one. And I tell you one thing...this story isn't finished at all so it's quite unusual that I'm already uploading the first chapter. Just a short warning: It might take me rather long to update, please be patient with me!

Another thing...I'm again trying something new. In 'Injunction or Chance' it was writing in POVs...and this time it's completely written in only Rose's POV o.o And as her POV is mine...please don't say anything like 'she's OOC'...we don't really know how Rose is so she can't be ooc...

Enough rambling...I hope you'll like it. Reviews are appreciated :)

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**Chapter 1**

_-Returns and Changes-_

"Take care of you and your brother, will you?" asked my mother. Hermione Weasley, once known as Hermione Granger. One third of the Golden Trio and heroine of the second Wizarding War. She was a good Mom, the best a child can have.

"Sure I will, you know me, Mom!" I retorted with a grin on my face.

Me, that was Rose Weasley. First born child of Hermione and Ron Weasley. Redhead (well, auburn), bookworm and Prefect, starting her sixth year in Hogwarts. So far I had always been best student of the year and I was willing to continue this year. You see, I was almost like my mother. In almost every case…as I even had (thanks Godric not entirely) her bushy hair and her chocolate brown eyes.

"Where's Hugo by the way?" I wondered. Hugo was my little brother. A little prat who admired our cousins Fred and James. Pranksters and Quidditch players first class so to speak. …You can't believe how glad I was that they had finished school already. Why? Well…they were a bad influence for my brother and had always chosen me to be their first victim when they had had a great prank. Hopefully this year will be quieter now that they left Hogwarts…with only 3 NEWTS each.

I couldn't help it but had to role my eyes at the thought of my dear cousins.

"He's already in the train…said he wanted to check something out." answered Mom.

"Mh…he should know by now that I won't make exceptions when it comes to punishment for his little crimes just because he's my brother." I grumbled.

Mom laughed at that and pulled me into a hug. Sure, the Hogwarts Express was to leave in two minutes. Smiling slightly, I pulled away after a few seconds.

"Tell Dad I say Goodbye and that I'm waiting for a letter of him." I said…disappointment in my voice.

"He's really sorry, Rosie. If he and Uncle Harry hadn't had this special case he would have come to wish you a good year as well."

"Yeah, sure. I know…but I don't think that they'll catch him this time."

My father worked, just as Uncle Harry, as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic and was currently away to chase a former Death Eater who had attacked 'Mudbloods' half a year ago. They had received several hints on where this guy was during that time and were sent to search him for the third time now.

"We'll see. I will tell him to write a letter and I promise that you'll see Cadie in one week at the latest with it."

Cadie was my own owl. A tawny owl. She was a present for my last birthday. As I had known that Dad couldn't come to say goodbye, I had left Cadie at home and had told Mom to send her with the first letter of the year.

"Okay. If you can't keep your promise I'll send you the first Potion Accident…and I'm sure this will be a gruesome one!" Of course not MY accident. I was good at Potions. But for example my cousin and good friend Dominique…she was also good enough to take it this year but not good enough to avoid accidents.

"That's mean, Rose! But okay…I'm sure I can keep the promise so I'm not afraid. Now, get in, only half a minute left! Goodbye, dear!"

"Bye Mom! I'll miss you!" I said and then entered the train.

~(°|°)~

Finally inside, I went straight towards the compartment which Dominique had chosen and in which she was already waiting. She was the second oldest daughter of my Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. Having partly Veela blood in her veins, she was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts. Today her long, blonde hair was bound into a curly ponytail.

"There you are! Phew…why does it always take you so long to say goodbye to your parents?" she said as I closed the door to the compartment.

"Well, probably because they usually don't want to let me go and because I like chatting with them." I retorted, sitting down across from her.

"Whatever…at the moment I'm really glad to be away…with Victoire pregnant…"

Victoire was her older sister who was married to Uncle Harry's godson Ted Lupin. As far as I can remember, Dominique had always been a little jealous of her older sister. And now, as she said, that Victoire was pregnant, it got even worse because her parents of course cared very much about their eldest child.

"You know that they'll nevertheless miss you and send you a letter every week as they have all the years before." I said monotone and took out a book from my little rucksack.

"I wouldn't be too sure." she said, turning her head towards the window. "Don't you have different things to do than to read again?"

"Prefects Meeting isn't before three pm, so I have plenty of time to read." I answered, turning to the next page.

"I didn't mean your meeting…but taking care of Hugo, Lily and Louis. They were planning something."

"Yeah…I should…but there are also other Prefects on this train and don't forget that even Professor Longbottom travels with the Hogwarts Express."

"If you say so…hey, where's Albus by the way?"

"Probably together with his Slytherin-friends. But he promised to come to us later."

Albus was Uncle Harry's and Aunt Ginny's second child and by the way older brother of Lily. He was my best friend even though we didn't meet very often and, as I've already mentioned, in Slytherin. He was the only one of our large family to be in this house. The rest was in Gryffindor, like Dom, Hugo, Lily and I (formerly also James and Fred) or in Ravenclaw like Louis (and formerly Teddy and Victoire).

It wasn't bad that he was in Slytherin…as he was still the same good guy. The only problem was his friends there…such as Nathan Zabini or – the very worst case – Scorpius Malfoy. Yes, THE Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco and Astoria Malfoy. Hurray, right?

I hate him. But I'm sure you had guessed it already after I had said it was the worst case. Mh…let's not talk about him, okay? He's way too arrogant anyway.

~(°|°)~

Half an hour later the compartment door opened with a loud noise, coming from the forceful way it was handled. The noise made me jump and woke Dom who had just fallen asleep.

"Are you insane?!" I asked loudly and stood up, miming a wall in front of the door now.

"Shut up Weasley and let me in for a minute. Your stupid little brother pranks all the other Slytherins and I don't want to smell like a troll as well!" said the dark haired boy, Nathan Zabini, and tried to squeeze in.

"You already do; so I don't see a point in hiding. Maybe Hugo makes you smell even better!" I hissed.

In response to my comment, he shot me a deadly look, lifted his hand and just pushed me aside with such force that it'd surely leave a bruise. However, he was then kicked by Dominique who couldn't tolerate force against a girl – and especially not against her friends- at all.

"Shit, you bloody bi-" he cursed but was cut off by the old 'emergency' socket of my father which I usually had in my pocket on the train ride to Hogwarts. It was a matter of experience, you know? I had stuffed it in his mouth and used the moment of surprise to grab his collar and throw him out of our compartment again.

"Bloody idiot." I grumbled, sitting down again.

"What is he thinking about himself? He can't really expect us to help him." said Dominique, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the window.

"Obviously he can. Probably thought that we're 'poor little Gryffindor girls' and that we can't defend ourselves." Godric I was angry now, I can tell you! And now you also see why I didn't like Albus' friends, don't you?

It was every year the same old story. At some time during our trip a random Slytherin – once they also came as a group – came for a 'visit' just to annoy and insult us. In third year, however, I had taken one of Dad's old sockets with me and used them ever since as my personal weapon…as we were not allowed to use magic on the train.

"I'll have to check what Hugo's really doing…Mom would freak out if she received a letter with a complaint even before the next year had properly started." I sighed a minute later and got once again to my feet.

"Okay…I'll take care of our compartment…I hope those snakes don't think about invading us again."

"I'm sure you'll do your best. Keep Albus here if he turns up, will you?"

"Sure. Tell Louis I'll scream at him later if you see him."

"No problem."

Then I went out and was surprised to smell something like a mixture of skunk and troll coming from the compartments in the back part of the train. I recognized it as James' and Fred's famous mixture they had created in their fifth year. It was disgusting…

Grimacing stronger and stronger with every step I took towards those compartments, I searched for my little brother and his partners in crime. I took a brief look in every compartment I came across and eventually saw them hiding near the toilettes.

"How DARE YOU to prank the Slytherins?!" I bellowed and took hold of Hugo's ear. He immediately screamed in pain.

"They deserve, sister!" he moaned.

"Yes, they do! They really do! They insulted Lily when we were still on platform 9 ¾!" said Louis.

I just narrowed my eyes at them. "And that's a satisfying reason for you to pollute the normally good air in this train?! It's not only the Slytherins who you've annoyed now but EVERYONE!"

"Take it easy, Rose! The smell will disappear in a few minutes…well…from the air, not from those gits…" said Lily, trying to defend herself and her cousins.

"I don't care if it's gone in a few minutes! The three of you will have detention. And that's my final decision, no negotiations!" I said with a strong voice and finally let go of my brother's ear.

"You're so mean!" Hugo protested.

"I'm your sister; it's my job to be mean." I retorted, "Go to your compartment now. I don't want to see you outside again except for changing!"

They eventually obeyed and I had time for myself again. So I returned to my compartment where I continued to read my book.

~(°|°)~

After two hours, Albus finally decided to join us. We hugged and he told us about the attack on the Slytherins again. He was shocked and disappointed that his own sister was one of the attackers. I could understand him…it was quite a shame.

"Do you have a chocolate frog? I really need some sweets now." he asked suddenly.

"You know me; I always have a chocolate frog or two with me." I answered and took one out of my rucksack. They were my favourite sweets.

"Yeah, therefore I asked you. Thanks. Do you want to have the card back?"

"Depends on which one it is."

"Mh…Morgan Le Fay?"

"No, thanks. I already have four of her."

"Okay, so I'll keep it."

"Fine."

"Ah yeah, I have a message." he said, snipping his finger in the air.

"Okay…spill it."

"Prefects Meeting is in…oh, half an hour already."

"…" I shot him a dirty look, "And you remember this NOW? Just in time I'd say, dear cousin! Who left the message?"

"You don't want to know."

"Okay, I already know from that answer. How does he know?"

"Met Madam Laverne on his way back from changing."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Okay…then I'll go, changing as well and then go to the meeting. Don't expect me to be back soon."

"Alright. Have fun." Dom and Al said at the same time.

"You don't have fun on Prefect Meetings, how often do I have to tell you?" I snapped before closing the compartment door behind me.

~(°|°)~

When I arrived at the compartment in which we usually had this meeting, all the other Prefects were already there…as was Madam Laverne. She was the first one to have this new, interesting *cough* job as 'Intermediary between Prefects and School'. A person who supervises those meetings and tells the Prefects what to do, what was planned for the year coming and she officially appointed the Head Boy and Head Girl.

"I'm sorry…the message that we would meet a bit earlier didn't reach me in time." I excused, giving a particular boy a dead stare. This tall, blond guy with this unnerving smirk. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

"It's okay, Rose. We haven't started yet. But now that everyone's here, we can begin." she said in her strict but also terribly shrill voice.

So I sat down, prepared to listen to everything she was telling us. A piece of paper was lying in my lap and a pencil was put behind my ear, waiting to take notes. I preferred writing with a pencil as long as I wasn't in Hogwarts.

"First of all, welcome and welcome back. You have the honour to be Prefects of your Houses in Hogwarts and thus entitled to more things than normal students are. You may take points from students of your OWN house and give detention to other students as punishment for rule breaking. But you also have obligations. You will have to patrol after curfew and of course see to it every time that all rules are respected.  
Talking about your patrols…there'll be a change this year. This year, it is me who fixes you schedules and with whom you patrol. Those settings won't change during the year and are not negotiable."

Some people around me already moaned in dislike. I have to admit, I was also quite sceptical but didn't say or do anything except for drawing a table in which I would write the single pairs and when their turn was.

"So. The pairs will be made within grades. So a 5th year student won't have patrol with for example a 6th year one. Attention please, I'll read them to you now…"

There was one thing you could notice right away while listening to the groups for our 5th year Prefects. The two partners always were from different Houses and never from the same. So it was not possible that I would have the luck to patrol with Daniel, my fellow Gryffindor.

"…and finally, also for the 6th years: Daniel Thomas and Lysander Scamander as well as Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy."

My pencil had already fallen to the ground when Madam Laverne had read out that Daniel was paired with Lysander. Scorpius and I? As Prefect partners? I gasped for air while I could see him straightening up in his seat from the corner of my eye.

"I want another partner, Madam!" he protested.

"This is not negotiable, as I've already told you."

"But Ma'am, this won't work AT ALL!" I said, trying to keep my voice down, "We'd rather kill each other than be able to patrol the whole night!"

"It's not the whole night, Miss Weasley. For you and Mr Malfoy it will be 5 hours every Wednesday, from 9 pm to 1 am and on Sunday from 1 am to 6 am."

"And why, if I may ask, do we have to make two shifts?" I asked as politely as possible.

"As the 5th grades have to prepare for their OWLs and the 7th grades for their NEWTs, we decided to let two pairs of 6th years do two shifts. The other one will be Mr Thomas and Mr Scamander on Monday from 9 pm to 1 am and Friday from 1 am to 6 am."

The expression on our faces told her everything…and nevertheless she grinned.

"People grow with the tasks they were given. Anyway…"

~(°|°)~

And so the meeting went on. Scorpius and I glared at each other whenever an opportunity occurred and our mood in general was very, very low.

We were allowed to leave at about half past four pm and I immediately stormed off to the compartment I shared with Dominique and hopefully still Albus. I needed someone to scream at and as Dom was a bit…stressed already because of her sister, Al should be my victim…even though he wouldn't understand why I was angry as this ugly git of a Malfoy was his best friend as well.


	2. The new Project

**Author's note: **Phew...I warned you before, it really takes me FOREVER to upload now that my training to be a wholesaler has started and I only have time on the week-end. I hope you'll forgive me...

Anyway, here's the second chapter for you. Not much to say about this I think. Enjoy ^^

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**Chapter 2**

_-The new Project-_

I was lucky as Albus was still there and seemed almost longing to be screamed at. Or maybe this was just my own impression…probably it was. So I just screamed and walked up and down our compartment. Dominique was glad that her MP3 player was still working and that she didn't have to listen to me.

At some time, Albus suddenly stood up and said that he would go back to his compartment now. This was short time before we arrived at the station in Hogsmeade, so I hardly cared.

The 'short' way up to the castle in the carriages was peaceful as always…even though Hugo, Lily and Louis were with Dominique and me. They kept quiet, didn't say one single word. And I was really glad they did because after what they had done in the train, I was sure that I'd explode whatever they would do or say.

However, as soon as we entered the Great Hall, my mood was perfectly fine again. Seeing the hundreds of candles which lit the hall, the four long tables and all our teachers at their table…it was great. I always feel like back in my first year, impressed and fascinated.

The sorting went by faster than usual…or at least it seemed like. We had seven new Gryffindors among us now, four girls and three boys. Of course they were welcomed with a long, loud and warm applause as always.

Afterwards, Professor McGonagall – Headmistress and still Transfiguration teacher – only told us about a 'great surprise' for the years 3 and higher which would be explained in detail tomorrow morning in a meeting of all students of each grade with her. Before lessons, so we would have to get up quite early. Then the feast could start and within seconds, cheerful mumbling broke out, paired with the sounds of spoons, forks and knives.

"I wonder what this surprise is…" said Daniel on my right-hand side.

"Nothing good I think. It's suspicious that not even we as Prefects know what it is and that it doesn't count for first and second graders." I answered, lost in thoughts about this topic. No, I was sure that this 'surprise' was nothing we should be looking forward to.

But I was the only one who thought like that. At least on our table. I don't know how the other Houses thought about it. I only heard Lorcan and Lysander Scamander philosophizing about whether it could be one of their 'strange creatures' or not. I really, really doubted that McGonagall would show us Nargles or whatever they were talking about.

~(°|°)~

Later on, I fulfilled my Prefect duties by showing our first years the way to the Gryffindor Tower and telling them our current password. Nothing special as you can see. Quite early that day, I then went to bed where I was chatting with Dom and my other roommates for a few moments before falling asleep.

At six o'clock am, the night was over. I woke the others and prepared for our first school day. I was really excited…how would our teachers' lessons look like this year? We started our NEWT courses…they must be different to normal lessons, or not?

Before this could start, however, we had to wait for our grade to be called to Professor McGonagall…which was at 7:50. Slowly but surely all students from 6th year came walked into her classroom and took a seat.

"Good morning." she said as soon as everyone was sitting somewhere. The room immediately was as quiet as a graveyard was. "As I've told you yesterday evening, this year will contain a surprise. To everyone who hopes that Mr Filch left us, no, he's still there but had to clean the dungeons yesterday. And no, our rules are also still the same and they also still have to be strictly respected."

She shot some students a meaningful look before she cleared her throat and continued.

"This year, the Ministry of Magic wants us to execute a new invented project. This one is, as I've also already told you, for 3rd grades and higher because the Ministry believes that from 3rd year on, you're mostly affected by what they want to prevent through the project. I want to let you know that I'm not satisfied with it myself but that we have to try it for this year."

I knew it was nothing good. Even though the Ministry was still led by an old friend of my parents, things from this institution were never good news. Frowning slightly, I took out my quill and a piece of parchment to note down important details.

"During this year – and I want everyone's entire attention now – one student from one House will be put together with a student from another House. This will happen only within your own year so you won't be put with a 5th year or another grade. In detail this means that you will work together in classes and also afterwards. You are expected to spend as much time together as possible and to get to know the other one better. So you will learn together and probably do other activities together as well."

Quiet murmuring started and even Dominique tried to discuss this piece of information with me. But I just narrowed my eyes a bit and stayed silent.

"SILENCE!" McGonagall bellowed. "I don't see any reason why you should discuss this right now as I'm still not finished!"

From one second to the next, everyone got quiet again and some people also blushed slightly.

"This project is used to try and reduce rivalry between the four Houses. A bit of rivalry is okay, that's out of question but in the last few years, we've witnessed how Hogwarts once again returned to conditions near to HATRED between members of two different Houses and this is inacceptable. I approve that the Ministry wants to change the situation but I'm not satisfied about their means to do it. Now we'll come to the decision on how you're put together."

Dom gave me a scared look on which I could just roll my eyes again. I mean…yeah, sure, I also feared to be put together with someone I really didn't want to be together at all but…freaking out wouldn't help at all so I just stayed as calm as possible.

"You see this bag in my hand. In there are small pieces of parchment, on each one is one name of yours written down. I will now draw out one piece of parchment after another and read them out loud. The first one will be together with the second one and so on. Professor Flitwick behind me will write them down on the board as well. If two names which would be together are from the same house, they'll be put back into the bag. Everyone whose name has been called may leave. Is everything clear?"

Everyone around me was nodding, I just blinked twice. My stomach made a strange flip. This wasn't good, not at all. There were many gits in Hufflepuff, strange guys in Ravenclaw and of course the plague of Slytherins. The probability that my name came together with Albus', Locan's or Lysander's was almost not existent.

McGonagall started a minute later. A girl from Hufflepuff was put together with another girl from Ravenclaw. Then she already drew Dominique…together with Nathan Zabini. My best friend broke out into tears and I patted her shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look. From across the room you could hear Nathan cursing under his breath.

"Good luck, Rose." Dom sniffed before she stood up and left for the Great Hall.

Few turns later, Albus' name was called out and I unconsciously crossed my fingers.

"Albus Severus Potter and…Ro-" Yes, Ro…go on, McGonagall, "Roma Sharma." I felt my heart plummet. Roma Patil was a quite nice Ravenclaw, her Mom was Padma Patil, a friend of my parents.

The two of them left the room, shaking hands together. I sighed.

"Daniel Thomas and…Lysander Scamander. Oh, you're also together on patrol, aren't you? What a coincident…" A small smile appeared on her lips and in the background, Professor Flitwick let out an amazed squeak.

My name wasn't called out until only four of us were left. One from Hufflepuff, one from Ravenclaw, and one from Slytherin.

"Rose Weasley and…oh dear Merlin, same case as with Mr Thomas and Mr Scamander, Scorpius Malfoy!"

"NOOO" I screamed and immediately went red. I hadn't intended to let out my reaction but I just couldn't do anything against it. "Please, Professor this is…I mean…"

"Miss Weasley, the two of you are the most perfect example for why this project was created. And I don't think that Mr Malfoy will curse you while you're sitting in the library or something like that so you don't have any reason for complaint."

"I'm not so sure about this…" I hissed quietly and shot a glance over to Scorpius who was once again smirking.

"I won't discuss this topic, Miss Weasley. You're dismissed for now. Go and get some breakfast before classes. I'm sure everything will look differently when you had a bit of toast or cereals."

Her tone didn't allow any retorts and so I stood up, involuntarily stamping my left foot on the ground and stormed out of her classroom. My face showed perfectly well how I felt…prepared to hex everyone into oblivion if they say one wrong word about anything. I was angry, very angry and felt fooled by life. Why for HEAVENS SAKE do I have to be put together with the little Ferret for Prefect patrols AND the rest of the day as well?! Tell me God, Merlin, Godric and who else what I've done to deserve this punishment?!

~(°|°)~

"Who are you together with?" asked Dominique when I let myself fall onto the empty seat next to her. I glared at her even though I knew it was not her fault and that she also had a bad partner.

"You may guess…" I hissed.

She frowned and then suddenly her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Don't tell me that…?!"

"Oh yes."

"You're kidding me!"

"Oh no."

"For real? HIM?"

"What else? Bad people always get what they deserve…and this time I'm not talking about him…because he doesn't deserve me…"

"And you don't deserve him either! Did McGonagall say something about punishment if we don't work together with those prats?"

"Nope…but I'm sure they'll be much worse than detention or losing House points."

She gulped and didn't continue on this topic again.

~(°|°)~

I was disappointed to see on my timetable that today we didn't have any lesson of DADA together…otherwise my mood might've got better as I could've jinxed and cursed him. Anyway…I wondered…McGonagall must've had a hard time working out our timetables…as we all should be together with our partners in classes at the same time…

Today I had two hours of Charms, two hours of Arithmancy and in the afternoon three hours of Potions. Through Albus I knew that Scorpius had chosen almost the same subjects this year so at least today we really wouldn't have a problem…but I didn't know if I should enjoy this or cry because of this fact.

In Charms then, I was close to another freak out when tiny Professor Flitwick told us that we even had to sit next to our partner during theory. I really thought about going home and never come back when I took a seat next to Scorpius who was sitting way to comfortable. Leaned back, arms crossed behind his head he gave me a dirty look from the corner of his eyes.

6th year was the time of learning how to cast spells without actually saying them. In theory it somehow sounded a lot easier than we all knew it was. The introduction into this topic took the whole first lesson. Quite a long time.

Then Professor Flitwick said that we should now try for the first time by using an old spell which we should perform perfectly by now. Wingardium Leviosa. I rolled my eyes again and next to me, Scorpius let out an irritated groan.

"How are we supposed to do this in groups of two, Professor?" asked Roma with a puzzled expression on her face.

"In turns, my dear. Today, at least in my class, you won't be able to really work together I have to admit."

In turns. Scorpius and I looked at each other, sighed and obviously decided not to work together. He turned away from me, taking out his wand and I did the same into the other direction.

A few minutes into the lesson, I stopped trying for a few seconds, watching my – I'd like to vomit! – partner. My mouth dropped open.

No, he hadn't already succeeded in letting the feather fly without saying the incantation, don't worry!

Nope, he actually tried to cheat. He muttered the spell in near silence under his breath but obviously couldn't concentrate long enough to actually make the feather fly.

"Damn cheater!" I whispered angrily and poked my wand into his arm. He then turned around. I was glad that he wasn't a Basilisk…

"What do you want from me, Weasley? Mind your own business!"

"Oh I would love to, Ferret, but unfortunately we are supposed to work together and therefore your business is my business…at least in classes. And YOU ARE CHEATING just to try and earn points."

"Should you listen properly you'll hear that almost everyone's doing it. So come on, act as a Prefect and tell them off and not me."

"Excuse me?" I shook my head in disbelief, "Since when does Scorpius Malfoy do what everyone else's doing?"

"This was not about me, okay?" he growled.

"Well but you COULD change this shameful moment if you used your brain to concentrate and not your mouth to cheat!"

He opened his mouth to insult me, I could tell from the devilish glance in his cold, grey eyes but was eventually interrupted by Professor Flitwick, "Mr Malfoy, Miss Weasley! Could you please be so kind and stop talking? This is a very important step to take for every young wizard!"

I could feel how I blushed a deep shade of red and chose to ignore Ferret from now on until the end of the lesson.

~(°|°)~

Our situation didn't really improve during Arithmancy as this really was a subject I preferred to do on my own. However, Professor Vector told us that we should try and do the task together. Bad about this: On today's exercise you had two ways which would lead to the correct answer and, how destiny plays, Scorpius and I ended up arguing because he wanted to do it the one and I the other way.

In the end the two of us were the only ones to get extra work because we were the only group who did not finish our work. My mood sunk beneath zero and I was prepared to kill him as soon as we were alone somehow.

~(°|°)~

During lunchtime, I told Dominique about it who felt sympathetic towards me but also had her own problems with Zabini as he had insulted her nonstop, whatever she had done. They had, by the way, also been in Charms but at the other side of the classroom as Professor Flitwick hadn't allowed Zabini and Malfoy sitting together since third year. Afterwards the two of them had Divination instead of Arithmancy.

"Rose…I don't like to say it but…if you want to keep your good grades you probably should talk to him…" she piped few minutes before lunch was over.

I looked at her as if she had lost it.

"Don't get me wrong but…your performance won't be high if the two of you don't get along somehow. At least during classes you'll need to find a solution."

"Pfft…and why don't you do the same with Zabini?" I growled…and felt sorry the next moment. It wasn't her fault so I should be nicer…

"Performance isn't that important for me but if it helps you to do it, I'll also talk to him. We could go together."

Go together? As in…now?

"Yes, Rose, now. We shouldn't wait until Christmas." She answered the question even though I hadn't asked…but it had probably been written on my face.

"…Do you need me? If not I'd prefer to talk to Ferret on my own. Now in Potions should be a good opportunity."

"I'm the daughter of an 'almost-werewolf', I don't need your help." she laughed, winking at me.

~(°|°)~

A few minutes later I went down to the dungeons and into our Potions classroom. Professor Slughorn was already waiting for us.

"Welcome to another year of potion making! This year we'll turn to advanced potion making which is, of course, a lot more difficult than the normal one…"

He went on babbling about what we would do this year but I didn't listen. No, I wanted to…well…not really, I rather NEEDED to talk to Scorpius.

"Psst, Ferret." I whispered and it was clear that I had to force myself to do it.

"Weasley?" he sighed, irritated again.

"You're also interested in good grades, aren't you?"

He didn't answer but only gave me a bored look.

"Then you'll see that I'm right when I say that we have to…brr…I think I'll be sick…that we'll have to work together properly during classes."

Again no answer.

"So I'd say that we discuss how we want to solve a task if there are two or more possibilities to find out which one we choose. If not, we'll just work together as if…we…well…"

"As if we like each other?" he laughed.

"No! Just as if we were partners. Believe it or not with your arrogant brain but I'm quite happy with our hating-terms, Malfoy."

"Whatever."

"Are you in on it?" I looked at him more directly than before.

He turned towards me, lifted one of his blonde eyebrows and then shrugged. "Okay. If we really need to. But don't think that I'll accompany you to your second home."

"Be sure that I won't, I would never want you to sit next to me in the library."

~(°|°)~

You will possibly not believe it, but we really worked together quite well during Potions. We prepared our ingredients together – even helped each other holding those snails in place – and took care of the potion in turns so that the other one could write down the notes Professor Slughorn had written on the board. And in the end, both of us earned 10 points for Gryffindor and Slytherin.

But of course, as soon as Potions was over, we were back on glaring and insulting each other. This would be a looooong year I'd say…


	3. Forest Gnomes

**Author's note: **Next chapter despite the fact that I still didn't have time to go on writing ^^' I just don't want to keep you waiting for too long.

Well...this chapter is...one thing I still laugh about as the idea was so strange in the beginning ^^' And it contains Hagrid...PLEASE! I can't write how he talks so it's just normal...imagine his way of speaking, okay? Thanks ^^''

_Disclaimer: _I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_-Forest gnomes-_

"…Dom, you shouldn't care about what this stinking git says about and to you!" I insisted, monotone.

We had survived another day, so today was Tuesday. Afternoon, to be exact. We had finished our classes for today and had gone upstairs into Gryffindor Tower and even higher up into our dormitory. There Dominique had immediately broken into tears, telling me about how the first two days had been for her. I as her best friend had listened to her story – which by the way really was disgusting, but as she's likely to repeat it yet once more I won't tell you now – and had tried to comfort her as good as possible. The problem was: The person I had tried to comfort was my cousin Dominique. Do you get what I mean? Nothing bad about her but it's really a hard task to try to calm her down.

"I know, I know! But I'd love to see YOU try to ignore it when you're insulted the whole time even when you just want to help! And as I told you, that's not all! He spat on me when we left Herbology! He's always glaring at me as if I…don't know, as if I was the evil person in this pairing! You, you are lucky with Scorpius!"

Up to the moment she had said her final sentence, I had just stared out of the window; my head leaning on one hand. I had heard this story three times already so I had just refused to listen to it a fourth time. Don't get me wrong please, I love my cousin but sometimes you just HAVE TO ignore her when she's exaggerating again. And telling one and the same story more than twice counts to 'exaggerating' in my opinion.

But her statement that I was lucky to have Malfoy as my partner was way too much. I immediately snapped back into reality and glared at my cousin. "I'm WHAT?!" I barked loudly. I actually hadn't intended to ask this question so loud but I just couldn't hold back.

"You're lucky! Different to Nathan, Scorpius at least is open for negotiations and actually works WITH you. He even holds back with insults and annoying you!"

"No he does not! You should work with him for one lesson and you'd see that he's just as disgusting as Zabini is. He uses different means to attack but in the end we both have the same results, Dominique!"

"Nathan's aggressive, Scorpius is just ignorant! That's a great difference, Rose! I'd rather be ignored than spat at or something like that." Her voice contained a certain heat now which made me glare even more.

"Would you stop this? Malfoy's nothing to enjoy and especially nothing to DEFEND!" By now I stood, next to my bed, staring down at my blonde cousin.

"I don't defend him!" she said, looking at me in shock.

"Oh yes, you do! You tried to tell me that Malfoy's an angel in comparison to Zabini which is not true at all! Malfoy is an evil Ferret and has been ever since I first saw him. He insults us, you as well as me and sometimes even our family. The only one he spares is Al and this also only because he's in Slytherin. And believe me; if he didn't think his spit was too valuable for us, he would also spat. Probably even into our faces."

I breathed heavily when I had finished my little monologue. Uh, this stupid, blonde asshole always got me lose my temper in some way.

Dom didn't say anything for minutes. We just looked at each other and her expression softened, almost went sad, with every moment. Then, suddenly, she mumbled, "I'm sorry, Rosie. I didn't mean to defend him. It's just…I feel so worthless when Nathan is around."

"…This is only because you make yourself worthless by not doing anything about him. Even though you're partners now you can still tell teachers or something like that. Or you could defend yourself; your mouth is big enough to do so." I retorted, surprisingly much calmer than before."

"Yeah…I know. I'll try my best, okay? Can we be fine again?"

A small smile appeared on my lips. "Sure. But never ever call Malfoy or Zabini by their first names again and don't try to say nice things about people who have nothing nice in them."

"Deal." she simply said and patted the space next to her on the bed. "Shall we do our homework together?"

I took the pre-offered seat and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Which one first?"

"Uhm…I don't know…Charms?"

I laughed. "Since when do you do a homework which is not due until next Monday?"

"I don't want to do Herbology, that's why I want to do Charms now."

"Ah yes…I understand. But later on we'll also have to do Herbology, don't forget that!"

"Of course not."

The rest of our afternoon passed by quite quickly. It's useful to make a bit of fun while doing homework…as the time goes by faster and somehow – in our case – you also write much faster and better!

~(°|°)~

It was early in the morning when I woke up. Still rather sleepy, I looked around me and saw that I was still on Dominique's bed. She was still fast asleep, rolled together like a cat. This made me smile as it reminded me of all the times we had more or less suddenly fallen asleep during work or a game we played. The latter had been the case yesterday night, after we had finished our essays.

However, my smile faded quite fast when I saw the mess we had done. My ink was spread all over the floor and it had, to make things even worse, already dried. Thus there was no use in trying to get it back into the pellet.

Sighing deeply and rolling my eyes, I grabbed my uniform (yesterday evening we had already been in our pyjamas) and sneaked out of the dormitory to get dressed.

~(°|°)~

An hour later I was down in the Great Hall, eating a toast as breakfast, waiting for the owls' arrival as I already had yesterday. Yes, I was impatiently waiting for my Dad's letter. Now that the only ink pellet I had taken with me was empty even more.

The Great Hall was almost empty today. Only a dozen students besides me were eating breakfast. The rest of them were either still sleeping or in the library, already in front of their classrooms or, as most of my classmates were, already in the Entrance Hall, waiting for our first two lessons of Care of Magical Creatures (the rest was waiting for Muggle Studies).

Only five minutes before I had intended to leave as well, about a hundred of owls flew in, searching for the addressees of their letters or even packages. And me, I was searching for Cadie.

The major part of the owls eventually flew back outside and to my greatest joy, Cadie landed next to me on the bench, hooting happily. She had a letter tied to her leg which I hastily unfastened and opened to read, simultaneously patting my owl's head.

_Dear Rosie_

_First of all I want to say sorry that I couldn't come to see you off. I hope you're not too mad at me and that you enjoyed the trip as well as your first days back in Hogwarts. I just came back home in the middle of the night…without any success as you had probably already guessed. This Death Eater bastard keeps disappearing, it's unnerving. But enough of my work._

_How is it at Hogwarts? How do you feel in your sixth year so far?_

_Please write back soon, your Mom and I are looking forward to your letter._

_Lots of Love, _

_Dad_

_PS: Give Hugo a hug from me and a kiss from Mom_

My smile must've been as wide as it hadn't been for days. I immediately took out a piece of parchment, willing to write my reply when I was suddenly and forcefully hit by reality: I still had no ink.

"Pfft…I'll come to you later, okay Cadie? Get some rest in the owlery." I said to her, stroking through her feathers for one last time. Then she flew away again and I decided to go into the Entrance Hall.

~(°|°)~

There Hagrid was already waiting for the two ones who were still not there, namely Albus and another girl from Slytherin…from who I knew that she had fancied my cousin for a long time already. I think my thoughts about why they were missing are clear. Without wanting it to, my face turned into a grimace.

"You should have something done against this, Weasley. You know, Healers can fix it quickly and without too much pain." I heard a sneering voice say next to me.

"Very funny, Zabini." I just hissed, narrowing my eyes.

"Mh…nope, I wouldn't say that Healers can help in that case. A gnome will always stay one, or am I mistaken, Weasley?" asked Malfoy who was standing yet next to Zabini.

"Good that you mention Gnomes, Malfoy…even though the topic's not nice at all." said the strong, loud voice of Hagrid.

My classmates broke into whispers, trying to find a possible answer why it was good that Malfoy had mentioned Gnomes. The easiest answer didn't come to their mind at all: We'd somehow talk about those little monsters…even though they don't seem interesting enough to be part of the 6th year in Hogwarts.

~(°|°)~

Ten more minutes passed before Albus and the girl turned up. I can tell you that Hagrid was already a bit annoyed but tried his best to stay completely calm.

"Now that we're complete, let's get out. Straight to my hut, please!"

We followed him down to his cabin. There we came to a halt and were waiting for what he would tell us about his plans for this year.

"This year's very special, very special I say. Why? Well, we were given a project to fulfil for Care of Magical Creatures." he said enthusiastically.

However, he jumped in surprise when everyone, including me, was groaning and grimacing.

"You're not too pleased about the projects, are you? Well, I can't change it, I was told to do this project with you. It's not as long as this partner-project you already have but only lasts until 1st December."

"And what does it have to do with Gnomes? If I understood you right, they must be part of something you want to tell us." asked Malfoy surprisingly…normal. Almost as if he liked Hagrid…as if he was a friend!

I didn't want to imagine the possibility that Malfoy really got along with Hagrid. I mean…I of course can't be sure as this was my very first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures together with any of the Slytherins but…no, this just didn't seem right at all! Especially not when I thought about the stories my Dad told me about Scorpius' father and how Mr Malfoy once had Hagrid almost fired because of a silly accident…which he even caused himself! And Scorpius was just like his father – at least as far as I could tell – and thus…it wasn't easy to imagine him on friendly terms with Hagrid at all.

"Yeah, well…ever heard of Forest Gnomes?" he saw our blank faces and continued with an amused smile, "Thought so. No problem, many people only know Garden Gnomes. Actually there's not a big difference between the two of them except for the place they live in."

"So they're brown, ugly and irritating?" asked Zabini smirking.

"You could say it like this if you want to." Hagrid retorted, "Anyway, to the project now. We have recently found quite a lot Forest Gnomes in the Forbidden Forest. A few days later, the project was given to us by the Ministry."

He paused, probably trying to increase our non-existent excitement.

"The ministry wants to try to socialize Gnomes so that they can live in better conditions. We're one of ten participants in this project."

Socialize Gnomes? Around me, everyone burst into laughter while I just furrowed. Socialize Gnomes…this sounded familiar to me. Very familiar…OH MY GOODNESS!

My mouth fell open. Mom! Mom had worked on the plans for this project together with some old, mental woman…how was she called…

"This project, however silly it sounds to you, took quite a long time to be planned. Mrs Goldberg has worked on it for more than four years. Yes, Albus?"

"Four years for a project which is predestined to fail? You can't socialize Gnomes. This is as if you want to make a Ghoul nanny for your children!" My cousin had a good point.

"Nevertheless we have to do it. Now, if you'd please stop laughing and discussing! I want to explain how it will work."

Slowly everyone fell silent. "Good. Now, as I've told you, we have many gnomes in our forest. And we also found some lost baby gnomes in there. The guidelines say that you, within your groups of two, will take care of one baby gnome until December. You'll feed it, bath it, play with it…raise it as if it was your proper child. On the 1st of December, you'll give them to Officials, who will then take care of them and see if their behaviour was and will stay influenced by how they were treated."

You could hear a couple of mouths drop to the ground. Some of us were gaping at Hagrid, mimicking a fish. I was also shocked, without a doubt I was. My mouth also stood open and I can't deny that I looked at Hagrid as if I feared for his sanity. However, there was also – believe it or not! – one person who looked as excited as a child a moment before Christmas.

Melinda Brown, a naïve girl with golden locks. She was in Hufflepuff, usually jumpy, always chatting with someone and not to forget: easy to convince of something, no matter how silly and stupid it was.

"Hagrid…for which grades is this project by the way?" I asked a few moments later.

"Only for the 6th, Rose. Ministry thinks you're old enough for this kind of responsibility." he answered.

"And why only us? Why not the 7th graders?" enquired the girl Albus had been away with.

"Cause they have to do other things for their NEWTs. Now, follow me please, we'll pick your gnomes up now."

"Into the forest?" she asked again.

I rolled my eyes about her shaking tone. It was not like we'd never been in there before.

"Sure. A Centaur is looking after them until we're there. Doesn't really like his job so we should hurry."

~(°|°)~

A quarter hour later, we arrived at a really dark place within the Forbidden Forest. It was quite cold here so that I as well as some other people around me closed their robes more tightly around them.

"Finally, Hagrid! Excuse me please, but I'll leave now." said the Centaur as soon as we approached, not saying anything else. He didn't even wait for a response.

"So, kids, down here they are." He gestured down to the roots of an old tree.

There were ten – or probably more, I couldn't really count in the darkness here – little, potato-faced, brown beings, covered by some leaves. Admittedly, they were a bit cuter than the…uhm…adults but not enough to make my heart melt like it obviously had for Melinda. She stood right next to me, sobbing and squeaking 'how cute, look at them!' Again I just had to roll my eyes and looking around me I saw that I was not the only one.

"Yeah…now, the pairs come together and I'll give you one of those gnomes."

Right after Hagrid had finished, Melinda pulled her partner – a confused looking Ravenclaw – to our teacher, grinning so widely I feared her mouth would never be able to close again.

"Very well, very well, Melinda. Here you go. It's a…a boy. Ah yeah, you shall give them a name, of course."

Gently he handed one of the gnomes to Melinda who immediately pressed the small being against herself, mumbling something like 'Dan'. Poor little thing and poor Ravenclaw boy.

Slowly but surely everyone came closer to Hagrid, taking one of those creatures in their arms. They, of course, were not as pleased with their situation as Melinda was. Not at all.

In the end, only Zabini and Dominique, Albus and Roma as well as Malfoy and I were left. We all hesitated to get closer to Hagrid.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad, really!" he tried to encourage us.

"Phew…come on, Zabini, I don't want to waste all the time in this forest!" growled Dom some moments later, grabbed his tie and pulled him forward to the half-giant. They got a female gnome which would probably stay nameless until the end of classes.

Then Malfoy clicked his tongue, crossed his arms behind his head and stepped to Hagrid, completely ignoring me who still stood at the same spot as I had for the last few minutes.

We were to take care of a male gnome (as were Albus and Roma, by the way) which also didn't immediately get a name.

When everyone had their project, we marched out of the forest again. Guess who had to carry the small being in Malfoy's and my case. Right, me. Of course. While he walked a few feet in front of me with Zabini. I stayed behind with Dominique and Melinda. Hurray. It got even better when suddenly my cousin screamed, "OH MY MERLIN! It peed on me! Hagrid!"

I really wanted this day to end.

~(°|°)~

"Now, one last thing before you may already leave." said Hagrid as soon as we had reached his hut again. We turned towards him. More than half of the class besides of me was already quite done with today. "As you're in different Houses now, you should try to make a plan. You're something like their parents now so they should get used to both of you. What I try to say is…Dan, for example, shouldn't only stay with Melinda. Not only during the day but also at night. Try to make a plan on when the babies sleep at one partner and when at the other one."

"They'll grow up in gay conditions in some groups." laughed one of Albus' stupid fellow Slytherins and he pointed to Lysander who – if I may remind you – was paired up with Daniel.

"Don't make me deduct points for comments like that, Tilmitt." said Hagrid.

"Professor…I have a question." said Lorcan a moment later.

"Yeah?"

"Some of our partners – as mine for example – didn't take Care of Magical Creatures…are they nevertheless involved in this project?"

"Mh…let me put it like this: They may if they want to, you'll have to ask. If they don't want to…well, then you'll have to take care of your baby on your own."

"Okay. Thanks."

Somehow this situation got more and more realistic. We had 'real families' with a – I don't believe that I say this – Mommy and a Daddy who actually get along (Albus and Roma) and who are only arguing (like me and Malfoy), but also single parent families like probably Lorcan would be and also one gay and one lesbian family.

"What about Prefect Duties?" I heard Malfoy ask suddenly, "I mean…we can't possibly take them with us."

"Well, you'll have to. I'm sure there are ways to do it."

I turned around to my…uargh…partner. He grimaced and shot me a short, disgusted look. Whether this look was for me or for the baby gnome in my arm…I couldn't tell.

"Okay, any more questions?"

We shook our heads.

"Good, then have a nice day. Off you go!"

"It looks a bit like Zabini, don't you think so?" asked Dominique on our way back up to the castle. She had cleaned her clothes via magic by now by the way.

"I can't tell, I just think that we'll fatally fail this project." I mumbled, looking down at the small thing in my arms. It was asleep. It had been for a few minutes and I hoped it also would stay asleep at least until our next lesson was over. But I shouldn't be so lucky…

"Weasley! This thing will stay with you, understood?" shouted my dear partner and the moment he did, our…baby woke up and let out a terrible, ears killing scream.

I narrowed my eyes. "No, Ferret, it won't!" I yelled back and simultaneously stamped towards him.

"Here, you'll take care of it now, I WON'T do everything alone. And by the way, do me a favour and give it a name WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY FAMILY!" I screamed and pushed the admittedly poor baby into his arms, immediately afterwards backing up a bit so he couldn't return it. And yes, the end had been necessary because if I hadn't added this, the gnome would've probably been called 'Ron', 'George', 'Hugo II' or something like that.

"Are you insane?! Look what it had done!" he growled suddenly. Well…he had every right to do so as our little 'no-name' had…well…shown perfectly well how my opinion was about his 'daddy'. There was a big heap on Malfoy's shoes and a part of it even slid down his trousers.

"Not insane, Ferret, this was just close to professional Divination. I'll take care of him after classes again. Make sure it has a name until then…and…you should probably clean your clothes before your next lesson."

With that, I went on, right into the castle and straight towards the classroom.


	4. Babies and Lessons

**Author's note: **Phew...guys, I'm really sorry about not updating in ages ago. I really am! But my life was a bit...stress lately. Stress and sad but I don't want to bother you with my problems. Especially because I don't even know if there is someone who really follows this story and my non-stop rambling at the start of every chapter...

Anyway, today we have the real start of the Gnome-Project. The first day of lessons with those little monsters ^^ Not much to say about it...

Hope you'll like it. Maybe a short review would be nice...but I won't force anyone ;)

_Disclaimer: _I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling**  
**

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**Chapter 4**

_-Babies and Lessons-_

The next lesson was the only one I did neither share with Malfoy nor with Zabini or Dominique. One lesson of History of Magic. Please, don't say something like 'How can she choose such a boring subject?' because it is not. At least not when you can ignore Professor Binns' voice and just see the facts behind it. History really was interesting. Much more than Ancient Runes in my opinion. This is by the way the subject more than half of my year had chosen…including the three I had already mentioned.

Fortunately I didn't have to copy or note down anything today as Professor Binns only told once again what we had already spoken about at the end of last term. And as History of Magic this year was only a subject of one hour, the time passed by quite fast.

Afterwards we had one free lesson in which I dragged Dominique into the library so that we could have at least a few minutes without anyone around us. However, this time was not really quiet as Dominique still had not been able to give her baby gnome to Zabini. And no, the gnome also still didn't have a proper name.

~(°|°)~

"It began to scream in the middle of the previous lesson. This was so embarrassing, I can tell you!" she told me.

"So it woke up? And…how did you get it quiet again?" I asked.

"Well…I fed it."

"With what? Hagrid didn't give us anything!"

"Professor Babbling gave every one of us a backpack with stuff in it. Malfoy got one for your gnome, too. I think Hagrid just forgot to give us those."

"I see…ehm…Dom, could I use your ink? I received a letter from Dad this morning but couldn't answer yet as we…well…emptied my ink last night. Sorry for the fast change of topic, by the way."

"Oh, no problem. I'm not soooo keen on this topic either. Here you go, write your letter."

She handed me her tiny ink bottle and laid her head on her arms on the table.

"Do you know by now how you'll call her?" I asked while taking out Dad's letter and a piece of parchment.

"I thought about Quisti." she mumbled.

"How did this name come to your mind?"

"Don't know; it just plopped into my head when I was feeding her."

"Okay…then you should call her Quisti…Zabini does hardly have a right to choose, right?" I asked, laughing.

"No, he's a bad Daddy so he's not entitled to choose a name. Mh…I still don't understand why you let Malfoy decide."

"You know…I think this project is rather senseless so I won't care too much about it. And of course I wanted to have a bit of peace and quiet during History of Magic."

"I see…okay…wake me up when it's lunch time, will you?"

"Sure. Good night."

And suddenly you could see that my cousin had fallen asleep as her breathing was much more even and she just had this…sleeping expression on her face. Quisti was lying in the backpack they had received and slept as well.

Smiling slightly, I now finally directed my attention to my parchment.

_Dear Dad,_

_It's okay, I'm not mad at you for being away when I had to leave…at least I'm no longer now that I've received your letter. I'm glad that neither Uncle Harry nor you are hurt. However, I'm also sorry that you once again didn't catch him. More luck for the next time! ;)_

_You really want to have a truthful answer on how it is so far? Terrible. The ministry got us into two unnerving projects. The main project stretches through the whole year and says that we'll have to spend our time with a student from another house. In my case it's Ferret (Scorpius Malfoy, if Ferret doesn't ring a bell). You surely know how absolutely amazed I was *cough*.  
The other one is a project which Mom knows quite well. In Care of Magical Creatures, we should take care of Forest Gnome babies until December. Of course together with our partner for the year._

_I also already had one argument or another. You know me; I can't keep my mouth shut when it comes to certain people. But it's okay. _

_Ah yeah, today evening I have my first Prefect patrol of the year. My second will be on Sunday. Yes, I have two shifts this year…also together with Malfoy. You see, this year kind of…well…sucks a bit but nevertheless I'll get through it._

_Greet the whole lot of uncles and aunts, take care of you and Mom and write again soon._

_Love,_

_Rose. _

_PS: I need a new bottle of ink…Dom and I spilled the old one all over the floor._

It hadn't taken long to write this letter so I still had a few minutes in which I could relax as well. I just leaned back, my arms crossed behind my head and took in the silent air which was – as always – filled with the scent of thousands of books. I loved the library…

A few minutes later, however, it was time to leave for lunch. So I woke Dominique and we left for the Great Hall. On our way, Quisti awoke as well and screamed in such a loud voice, I had to dig my fingers into my ears to prevent me from getting deaf.

"Uhm…I don't think it's hungry again…what shall I do?" Dom asked loud enough for me to understand.

I just shook my head, indicating that I didn't have a clue.

"It's also not stinking…" she mumbled.

"Maybe it doesn't feel well because it still couldn't…well…pee and so on." said another voice through the scream. A dreamy voice.

"You think so, Lorcan? But how should I make it?" my cousin wondered.

"Maybe you should visit Madam Pomfrey…or consult a teacher in general. They'll surely be able to help." he suggested, rocking his own gnome baby in his arms.

"Mh…Rose, could you prepare a sandwich for me and take it to DADA? I think I'll really go to see Madam Pomfrey."

I rolled my eyes slightly, sighed and said, "Okay…but you really take this too seriously. If I were you I would give Quisti to Zabini and make him deal with the situation."

"He'll get situations even worse than this one, believe me. I'll make him take her for the night." she said, winking at me. Then she turned on her heels and went to the Hospital Wing. With every step she took, Quisti's scream became more and more silent.

"Say Lorcan…how comes you know stuff like that? You don't have younger siblings and so on." I asked when we both entered the Great Hall.

"Well…Mom often told us about the 'problems' she and Dad had with us when we were babies. We also used to scream when…well…we had eaten and couldn't bring it out again."

"Uh-huh…nicely said, I didn't lose my appetite. Thanks for not saying it differently." I laughed, "See you in DADA then?"

"Of course."

~(°|°)~

During lunch, I was finally also able to find my little brother…chatting and plotting with Lily. I joined them (also to avoid any plans to be finished) and told him about Dad's letter and our Gnome-Project. They then laughed at me like maniacs and yelled this news through the whole hall to their (from our all-year-project) partners. You'll understand that I had to smack my little brother afterwards…and I think that many other 6th years wanted to do the same.

"ANYWAY, back to topic…do you want to write back to Mom and Dad as well or at least sign my letter?" I huffed short time before I wanted to leave again.

"Nah, maybe next time. Say, sis…is it your turn tonight?" he answered.

"Prefect duty? Yes and I suggest you not do to anything stupid, you know that I won't spare you just because you're fellow Gryffindors!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't have to mention it."

"Whatever…come on, Hugo, we should get going or we'll be late for Herbology." said Lily all of a sudden and dragged him to his feet. They grabbed their partners and practically ran away.

I had a bad gut feeling. Maybe I should write a second letter to my dear cousins James and Fred to ask them to talk some sense into Lily and Hugo…but I doubt that they would do it…on the contrary, they'd be proud of those little devils!

Now that I was alone again, I risked a very first look through the hall. To my classmates. Some of them were already desperate, unnerved or – just in one case which you should know by now – still absolutely amazed. Should you want to ask, no, my 'baby' was nowhere to be seen. I wondered whether Malfoy had already shut it into a broom closet. This option really was possible and – when you think about 'who he is' – just logical.

~(°|°)~

However, I should see very soon that my negative thought was wrong. When I entered the DADA classroom, he and Zabini were already there, chatting. Chatting and feeding our gnome. I couldn't help it, my jaw dropped when I saw this.

"You okay?" asked the familiar, dreamy voice of Lorcan next to me.

"Fine." I just said and shook my head.

"He's done a good job so far." he said, "Malfoy I mean."

"Mh…probably…but maybe he also just poisoned the food for the gnome so that we can't take part in this project any longer." I grumbled, finally taking the seat next to Lorcan.

"You're quite pessimistic lately." he stated.

"Lately? She's never been one for an optimistic point of view."

"Thanks Dom…maybe I should eat the sandwich I made for you…"

I took my bag onto my lap to make space on my left-hand side for her.

"Don't be so mean, I'm starving!" she squeaked when I took hold of said sandwich and moved it to my mouth. With a big grin on my face I, however, eventually gave it to her.

"Does Quisti feel better?" asked Lorcan a moment later.

"Yeah, she's fine again. You were right by the way." she answered after her first gulp.

"Good to hear." he nodded. "Rose, why do you unpack here? Are we allowed to work with whomever we want to again?"

My head snapped back up from inside my bag when he asked this question. My eyes were widened. I had totally forgotten…but now I also understood why Dom still hadn't sat down.

"No, of course not…phew…I was just lost in thoughts and forgot that I have to…well…you know. And we were talking, weren't we? So I couldn't just go to Malfoy." I tried to defend myself.

He just laughed and nodded again. "Sure. The two of you should go now…Professor Parish will arrive in…probably ten seconds."

~(°|°)~

Sighing deeply, I stood up after this information and reluctantly sat down next to Malfoy.

"Carv." he then said without looking at me.

"Pardon?" I grimaced. What did he mean?

"Carv. Its name. You wanted me to give it a name and I did." he mumbled impatiently.

Once again, my mouth stood open. I hadn't imagined him to really…well…obey to what I told him to do. Not at all.

"This isn't a name, you know." I retorted after a few seconds.

"It is. Nathan's great-grand-mother's cousin was called like that." he answered grinning. From next to him you could hear a growl. Obviously Zabini did not approve Malfoy's choice much.

I decided not to say anything else but to listen to Professor Parish.

We should learn advanced jinxes, hexes and curses as well as their counter spells this year…of course non-verbal. The best thing was that we should try them in turns on our partner. You surely can imagine how much my day lightened up when she said that.

Half an hour into this lesson – after theoretical instructions – we then were allowed to stand up and ordered to bring all the babies into her office so that they wouldn't be harmed. As I had said I would take care of…Carv after lessons or after DADA in that matter, this was still Malfoy's job to do. Meanwhile Professor Parish flicked her wand and made the tables disappear so that we had enough space.

Do I have to mention that this time my first non-verbal spell worked after my third try already? Yeah, you could say that the possibility to legally hex Malfoy boosted my skills drastically. It was the same for him of course but who did really care?

~(°|°)~

Unfortunately DADA passed by so fast that I thought we had just started when our Professor called it a day.

"Have fun, Weasley, I think by now the diaper should be filled." Malfoy said, snickering.

I chose not to say anything but just grab my bag, go into Professor Parish's office and pick up the second bag in which Carv was sleeping. I wondered how he could amongst his fellow gnomes, two of which were screaming again.

Until dinner I then retreated into the library again, hoping that Carv wouldn't scream when he awoke. He didn't, if you want to know…but the smell of his poo was disgusting.

Anyway, the next 'interesting' stuff happened during dinner, when Dominique finally gave Quisti to Zabini. During this scene, I sat between Hugo and Lily, who I had shortly before caught preparing a prank, at the Gryffindor table.

"Here, it's your turn, Zabini." Dominique said and let the backpack with all the things you need for those gnome babies fall into his lap. A moment later, she also handed Quisti over.

Zabini looked confused for a second, and then tried to return the baby, saying, "Are you insane Weasley? I won't take care of this scum."

"Oh yes, you will. I WON'T take care of her alone. I don't have a problem to take her during the day but – different to you – I need my rest at night." she spat.

"Ah yeah? Thanks for the compliment, Weasley." he grinned, running a hand through his dark hair.

From where I sat I could see Dominique lifting an eyebrow. "Compliment? Which compliment? …OH! You think I meant that you don't need rest because sleep can't make you more 'handsome'…I see…Well, you got me wrong." She paused, obviously waiting for more attention from around her.

She eventually got it and thus went on, "I meant that you don't need it because not a thousand years' time of sleep could change your troll-like visage into something human-worthy."

Some people around her laughed, giggled or at least grinned. Even Slytherins did. Amongst them was also Malfoy. But everyone knew that Zabini and Malfoy insulted each other as well as they did other people.

"So, you'll take her during the night. Her name's still Quisti and I'll take her to me after breakfast again. Good night." And then she left. Her long hair whipped his face when she turned around, her head proudly lifted.

Zabini's face was an infuriated grimace and you could almost see steam coming out of his ears. I couldn't help it but laughed behind my hand and gave my cousin a high-five when she sat down across from me.

"That one was fantastic!" I whispered, "Just what he deserves! See, your hair left marks on his face."

"Really?" she turned around to see it. When she tilted her head back to me, she bit her lip to try and keep her grin only small. I don't have to mention that she failed, do I?

"Still think you're very poor." piped Lily.

"Well, you're absolutely right." said Dominique, "But maybe destiny is so nice to give you the honour *cough* of this project next year."

"We're not nasty at all, are we, cousin?" asked Hugo; his eyes narrowed.

"Not at all, no." she retorted and finally helped herself to dinner.

~(°|°)~

A few minutes later when we were too full to eat one little crumb of bread, we were eventually visited by my dear snake-cousin. He was carrying the backpack in which his gnome was currently sleeping. Different to most of the people in our year, he still looked kind of relaxed.

"Hullo! Nice show, Dom." he said, sitting down next to Lily.

"Show? Al, this wasn't a show, I just told the truth!" she mumbled, patting her stomach.

"Whatever. What do you think? Are you satisfied with how our first day as parents turned out?" his voice was forbidden cheerful. However, his happy grin faded when Dom and I just lifted our eyebrows at him. "I see you're not…"

"Well…I can't say much as I just got Carv after DADA…but there are sides on him which I really…dislike. Reminds me of 'his dad' if you know what I mean."

He rolled his eyes. Of course he didn't approve my comparison to Malfoy…as he was his bloody best friend.

"Okay…and how about you, Dom?"

"I had to take care of Quisti the whole day…it was okay, I think. Nevertheless I think that this project is rubbish and I don't know how we should do this until December.

"I'm also not sure about what we're supposed to do for such a long time. But up to now it's like taking care of Lily." He grinned and his little sister blushed terribly. "Roma and I took care of little Darius (he gestured to his backpack) in shifts of two hours."

"And how are you planning to do this at night?" asked Hugo.

"Tonight I'll take him; tomorrow it's her turn and so on."

Dominique and I nodded in respect for how well he and Roma got along and how well they had planned everything.

The ambitious part deep inside of me sighed slightly. It wished that I could also deal with this project so well…show a good performance. But with the partner I had to cope with, this was nothing but a hint of a dream. Not that the rest of my body and soul wanted to take too much care of this project. I already mentioned that I found it ridiculous and wouldn't put too much effort in it.

"Do you and Scorpius already have a schedule?"

I jumped a little when my cousin's voice suddenly asked this question. I blinked at him several times before grimacing and shaking my head.

"Let me guess…the two of you haven't even spoken a word about this project."

"We have. I told him to take Carv till after DADA and give him a name. That's more than enough for one day, isn't it?" His mimic told me that it was not so I just scowled and put my head on my left, fisted hand.

"You're mad again?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm not." I grumbled.

"You are."

"Am not."

"Are"

"Al, shut up!"

"Carv's awake, sis." said Hugo. A moment later, said baby started screaming and I hit my head against the table.

~(°|°)~

I really hated my life this year, have I ever told you? And you know what? I say this now, BEFORE my first Prefect Patrol...with Malfoy. You do understand me, right? Unlike my traitor of cousin who has fraternized with the enemy years ago. Of course HE couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to plan anything together with his stupid best friend. And of course he wouldn't understand how awful our 6th year turns out to be for me as he had a perfect partner and no duties except for playing Quidditch.  
But I…I had more than enough duties on my account. I was Prefect, a 'Mom', companion to a sometimes unnerving Dominique and also had to look after both Hugo and Lily. And finally I also had to try and get along as good as possible with my archenemy Malfoy.

Stupid screaming baby.

Stupid projects.

Stupid Prefect Duties which were to start soon.

"I think he needs to be fed." said Dominique.

"Mmmmh…" was all I did before slowly lifting my head up again. "Okay Carv…do me a favour and be a better person than your 'daddy' is and be quiet…I'll prepare your dinner…"

Of course I was not lucky. Carv screamed until he finally felt food in his mouth. Looking around I saw the whole lot of Slytherins snickering at me. I swear when I see one of them during my duties I'll give them a year worth of detention…


End file.
